Morocco’s King Mohammed VI decided yesterday to send a medical team to the besieged Gaza Strip in order to provide medical treatment to the victims of the Great March of Return, following a request by the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh’s media office declared in a press statement that Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani had informed the Palestinian official of the King’s decision. Arrangements will be made with Egypt to ensure the medical team is able to enter the Strip, the statement added. In a telephone call with Othmani on Sunday, Haniyeh called on Morocco “to provide urgent medical assistance to the victims of the Return Marches, especially as the occupation is deliberately inflicting casualties among the Palestinian people to discourage them from participating in the marches.” More than 116 Palestinians were killed and more than 13,000 were injured during peaceful protests held near the Gaza-Israel border fence. Israel tested new weaponry on the protesters and inflicted severe injuries, with many demonstrators seeing their limbs amputated as a result.
